That's how we do business
by narcissisticSpaghetti
Summary: An awkward situation, to say the least...  Not very long, but hopefully worth it.  Almost a Romeo and Juliet invert, turning around the forbidden to required.  Riku, Sora, Namine, Xaldin, Kairi, Roxas, Axel, Terra, Aqua and Ventus.
1. Drabble Prologue

"Really, mom? You're making me hook up with someone I've never met before. Are you serious?"  
>"Yes, I am. You family's business has been tangled up with the Hikari's for years, and we're finally sick of it. We're planning a merger, but we need you to meet and marry a girl from their side. It's how this world does business, you know that." Riku's mother scolded, sighing heavily.<br>"I know that, but I don't WANT to do anything like that. I don't wanna get sucked up into my family's problems, when I had nothing to do with them. I wanna live my life, mom. I'm happy outside town with my pool and big house and only one maid. Namine's really sweet."  
>"I know, dear. I've met the girl. And she is a sweetheart. But you know that it has to be direct children or the company owners, or if there aren't nieces or nephews. Since you're our only child, you have to be our representative, and the Hikaris have six daughters; three of them unmarried. Their son is a dashing young man, too, by all rights, I think he's got a fiance." Riku's mother turned to her son in her large, leather, wingback chair. "You should be honored."<br>"And yet I feel doomed. Why do I have a feeling that I'm gonna get so screwed?" The silverette sighed, looking out the window and rolling his eyes.  
>"You're not getting screwed, love. Just having sex on the first date. And then marrying her."<br>"Isn't that technically getting screwed?" The last sentence was lost due to the loud screech from across the room.  
>"Oh, dear... hold that thought, love!" His mother rushed over to calm down the large, colorful bird in it's cage. Riku sighed, and left.<br>When the bird was quieted, the older woman turned around, sighing. "Now, Riku dear, did you have something to say?" She asked the empty room. 


	2. Chapter 1

"So you walk in, sweep her off her feet, take her home and yeah, like... have sex..." The shorter male looked very awkward. He sighed, flipping his blue-purple hair from his eyes and rolled them. "Huh, never figured you for a straight marriage..."  
>"Zexion! You know very well that I don't want ANY sort of marriage. And even though you may look like it, you're not my brother; and I need a brother right now." Riku almost sobbed in irritation. No matter how much he loved the younger male, he still cut right through his nerves and most often sent him straight to a tantrum. only now, it was worse.<br>Much, much worse.  
>Riku was going to get married, to a girl he'd never met. And his family expected him to have sex with her. Real sex.<br>The biggest problem, Riku's best friend in the entire world, even better than Zexion, (though that was kinda hard) was actually from the same family as the girl he was supposed to meet. In fact, Riku's best friend was this supposed girl's brother, if Riku got his math right. That would be downright awkward.  
>Not even counting the innocent kisses and passing words of casual love the two had shared years ago, before the brunette had moved away.<br>"Besides, where's your girlfriend? Playing guitar?"  
>The shorter of the two swooned slightly in memory of the beautiful young woman. "Yeah, she is..."<br>"Then why aren't you watching her?"  
>"You need friendly support, helping hands, words of encouragement! Someone to buy condoms for you, 'cause you're too much of a coward to get them yourself!"<br>"Zexion!" Riku shrieked in horror. "I have condoms, thank you very much! Now go away!"  
>"No! I got nowhere else to be, the band kicked me out! They didn't want me listening to their new hit single yet!"<br>"Then go find Namine! She's probably waiting for Demyx, and you two both like your quiet time! Ask her what she's been drawing lately, or ask her to draw something for you! She'll be occupied for hours! And she'll let you watch. Win, win." Riku sighed dramatically. "NOW GO AWAY!"  
>"Aww, I kinda wanted to meet your newest conquest."<br>"She's not a conquest, you pervert. Besides, I've never met her before, so she's not exactly a date either."  
>"Either way, I don't wanna watch that blonde draw me a pictu- hmm..." Zexion let a look of thought drift across his face. "I guess I could ask her for something specific... How good is she at sexy stuff? Or girls?"<br>"I'M NOT LISTENING!" Riku shoved his palms in his ears and started to sing obnoxiously loud "Lalala!"s to avoid hearing the next words out of his friend's mouth.

Hesitantly, Riku stepped into the cafe. the place was run by a mutual friend of Hikari and Cartwright corporations. Just a small downtown cafe, that happened to be empty.  
>"Hey Terra, how are Aqua and Ven?" Riku tried to make a casual conversation with the man behind the counter, trying his hardest to calm his nerves.<br>"They're doing fine! How 'bout yourself?"  
>Riku loved this place, tiny, bright, open, full of the wonderful smells or honey, coffee and baking bread. He came here often for lunch if he was in town. "I'm doing okay, I guess. Quite nervous. You know what's going on, right?"<br>"That's why there's no one in here, just us so far. And whoever you're supposed to meet from Hikari." Terra smiled warmly. "You curious what she looks like?"  
>"Greatly, and yet also quite terrified. If she looks anything like her brother though, I might think she was gorgeous."<br>"You met the Hikari boy? Is he a nice kid?"  
>"Very nice, very very nice. Too nice for his own good. But a wonderful person otherwise too." Riku smiled and thought a moment. "He and I are great friends, but I never met or even saw any of his sisters."<br>"Where'd you meet him?"  
>"Uh, not far, actually. He and his uncle came to town for a visit and I met him at the pool. We were very small back then. We got along great, and then they had to leave."<br>"Ever see him again?" Terra glanced at the door and smiled, wiping down the counter and picking up the tips jar.  
>"Only twice. Once more here, and once we bumped into each other not too far from his house. I caught a glimpse of the place by accident, and he jumped out of nowhere."<br>"Well cool, sounds like you know him well, that won't be too awkward. Getting to know his sister should be a little more difficult, though." Terra bit his lip, thinking hard about something. "I'd offer you some advice, but catching Aqua's eye wasn't even a conscious thing, I just realized that she adored me and went along until we got married. I really do love her though." He sighed and grinned down at the younger male. Gettin' hitched yourself, not too long from now, no?"  
>"Ah, s'what I'm told. I'm still unsure I wanna be anywhere near the country right now."<br>Laughing Terra walked out of the room. "I'll be right back!" He called.  
>Silently, Riku picked at the coffee drink Terra had handed him not five minutes ago. Biting his lip against the hot bitter liquid and cream, he wondered which sister he'd be presented with today. "I'm sorry Sora..." he muttered to himself.<br>"What for?"  
>"Gyaugh!" Standing up to see the person behind him, Riku nearly spilled all his coffee onto the floor. In managing to save it at the last minute, some of it still managed to escape him and make it's way to the tiled floor of the cafe. "Shit..." Riku muttered.<br>Sora laughed, giggling like crazy as his friend fumbled to regain his cool. "Hey, how you doing?"  
>"I'm doing great! I was just-OUCH! Ow... I was just waiting. Hey, what are you doing here?"<br>"Waiting for someone, I think. I still dunno what you have to be sorry for, Riku. Tell me!"  
>"Uhh... You know... don't you?"<br>"I think I just covered that."  
>From the other room, Terra heard the commotion, but in peaking around the corner decided not to come into the room. He decided that now was the perfect time to become scarce instead. So he quietly made his way upstairs to await the sound of the bell, announcing their departure.<br>"Uhh... Really? I thought you were in on this?"  
>"I dunno what you're talking about right now. I'm here to meet your sister or cousin, I think. Why are you here?"<br>Riku froze, thinking over the brunette's second to last sentence carefully. "Uh-oh..."  
>"What? What!"<br>"I think someone made a mistake somewhere... I thought I was meeting one of your sisters." Riku bit his lip, g;lancing at the clock. "It's still noon, we can fix this!"  
>"Oh..." Sora looked a little creeped out. "Really?"<br>"Yeah, come on!" Grabbing Sora's hand, Riku fled the little sun-lit cafe and made his way to the car, as fast as his legs could carry him. Sora pretty much flapped in the wind behind him. 


	3. Chapter 2

"How did THIS happen?"  
>Riku's mother and father sat in the hall, sipping their coffee and anxiously glancing across the room at the Hikari's. The Hikari's, Sora's parents, did the same.<br>Both sets of parents sat on either side of the long hall, nervously picking at whatever they could find, disliking the company of the other family. Scattered across each wall, representatives from both companies milled back and forth and gave each other dirty looks. Most everyone had tried to find something to do, be it watch a movie on an iPod or phone, or play a game, or simply go get coffee for half an hour down the street.  
>"I have no idea, but somehow it did. Is there any way to set this straight?" Riku panicked, silently begging his mother for a solution.<br>"Can't you change the names or something on the contract?"  
>"To do that would ruin the paper, and this is one important document. We'd have to start all over, and to do that would require a complete re-try of this entire get-together. You two have your names on this paper, and you are to sign it when you are done... with your duties before noon tomorrow." Riku's mother was quite disgusted with herself and the two young men before her, but she hid it well. Only Riku could really tell.<br>"Well than why can't you?" Sora looked up innocently at Riku's mother.  
>"Sora, darling." Mrs. Hikari stood up and made her way across the room to the two boys and the woman standing in the center of the room. "If we start over now, than the merger won't be completed until next year, and we want a new beginning as soon as possible. Besides, both companies are in need of each other's help or resources to stay in business, and if this doesn't happen now the entire thing can't ever happen. Ever."<br>"To start again means to delete all progress towards a formal merger, and to ruin our companies entirely." Mr. Cartwright, Riku's father, now got involved, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder to keep her from strangling the other woman. Though he looked like he wanted to do that himself. "Both of them. This has to happen now, or not at all."  
>"Exactly. Now, I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but you two need to do this. If you don't everything falls, everyone looses, and the world's people could fall out of order. Our two companies provide the very grounds this society lives on. Take us out of the equation, everything shakes, and a good amount of food and money for the poor or sick disappears, people all over die." Mrs. Cartwright finished for her husband, looking over her urge to strangle.<br>"Oh..." Riku sulked.  
>"We'll try, mom! Riku's parents." Sora smiled honestly, and tried to brighten the mood. Trying to break the tension, Sora began to drag his silver-haired best friend from the room.<p>"I should have warned you about the master guilt-tripper, my mother." Riku groaned in pain and frustration. "I'm sorry. We don't have to do this, if you want we can go get girlfriends and divorce later." Riku sighed.<br>"Do you really wanna do that to our parents? Besides, when was the last time you had sex? It might be interesting to try."  
>Riku stared at the brunette, not even bothering to respond.<br>"Yeah, you're right. But we can always try and see if we can. If we can't no big deal." Sora smiled apologetically at Riku, as the two stood in the elevator going down towards the bottom floor.  
>"Well, you can come home with me for the night, if you want. I have a spare room or two you could borrow." Riku rubbed gently at his temples, trying to rub away the ache in his head. It didn't seem to be helping, but at least he was doing something.<p>

The long drive to Riku's out of town place was a two-hour one, with absolutely no conversation. After a few minutes, though, Sora turned on the radio so it wouldn't get too awkward.  
>It didn't really work, but at least it was progress.<p>

"We're here," Riku announced quietly, looking up at his huge brick house, which he lived in almost entirely alone. The beautiful white windows stood out against the crimson red bricks the house was made of, no two Terra-cotta rectangles the exact same shade, but they seemed to fit wonderfully.  
>"Whoa!" Sora gaped in awe as Riku got out and walked over to open the car door for him. "It's beautiful! how many rooms do you have?"<br>"Umm," Riku thought for a minute to remember the exact number given all those years ago when he bought the place. Three to be exact, but he hadn't paid much attention to it then. "Somewhere around forty, but I've only really used like, twenty since I moved in. The rest are guest rooms and storage units I don't use, or the 'maid's quarters' as she calls them." Riku rolled his eyes at the younger male's enthusiasm.  
>"Maid? You have a maid?"<br>"Not really. She's an art student at the college nearby, we passed it on the way here, actually. She just lives here and cleans the place when it needs cleaning. In exchange, I pay for most of her tuition. She just likes to call herself the maid and wear those ridiculous costumes when she's not doodling or working on her homework."  
>Sora ogled, looking up at the large house admiringly. "That's a pretty impressive house!"<br>"It may look like much, but it really isn't. It's just home to me." Riku sighed, inhaling the fresh scent of fresh cut grass on his wonderful lawn that Namine and those other girls liked to keep so nice. What was her name... Something with a K, and she had red hair... and the other was a light brunette... oh well. He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the keys to unlock the white wooden door and slip inside. "Come on, I think we have time to go swimming before Xaldin gets done with dinner, he's usually done at exactly six or so, so we've got some time." He shoved the large wooden rectangle from before him, to reveal the absolutely HUGE front room of the Cartwright boy's house.  
>In the center of the room was a living room, large, with a big chandelier, and a few comfortable couches and chairs. On either side wall, were large shelves filed with books and trophies, medals and papers of achievement, and a large amount of beautiful and colorful paintings, all with a very similar or same style to them.<br>On the back wall, just below the large over-hanging second floor above, was a large painting of Riku himself, that looked a lot like all the other paintings on the walls. It looked amazingly like him, the only real difference was that it was a little messy, and a little less detailed than the real thing. Underneath, was a tiny shrine of sorts, with beautiful flowers and vases.  
>"Um, there's a painting of you..." Was all Sora said, walking into the large room.<br>"Yes, one of Namine's favorites, she calls it her masterpiece. She insists on treating it like a king's portrait and every day takes care of it or something. I'm just humoring her, 'cause she feels it's beautiful, and I'm actually inclined to agree. But I still don't like the idea of a beautiful painting of me in my living room..." Riku shifted slightly. "NAMINE!" he called into the large building.  
>His call was met with silence, but very soon, the sound of running feet could be heard, and eventually labored breathing. "Be right there!" A young girl's voice could be heard.<br>Into the large room she came, pausing on the landing and catching her breath. "Right here sir!" The young blonde wore a small black outfit, with a great amount of white lace and a large red bow in the back. "Anything you need?"  
>"Ask Xaldin to prepare some extra food, we've got a guest tonight. This is Sora Hikari."<br>"Nice to meet you, sir." Almost too fast to see, the young woman was down the large steps to the left of the room and stopped in front of the two men. "My name is Namine, I'm master Riku's assistant and maid. Anything you need let me know, and sometimes I'll have my own helpers around so you can tell them." The girl grinned hugely. "Would you two like to be left alone, or do I set up some bathing suits or the games room?"  
>Riku spluttered, and choked on his own tongue. "Why don't we go swimming, Sora?" He made a beautiful recovery in seconds, but Namine noticed his tiny outburst.<br>"Sounds good! But isn't the closest pool back in town?" Sora pulled his eyes from the flashy outfit that Namine wore, and looked confusedly at Riku.  
>"Oh no, most places in this area have their own pool. Master Riku's is just bigger than most." The blonde grinned proudly, and then let her grin fade to a simple smile. She closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side. She looked quite happy with her life. "Should I go get swimsuits?"<br>"No, you should go tell Xaldin we have a guest, and then go get swimsuits. Can you find some of the ones that are too small for me, too? Maybe something James left behind will fit him better than me." Riku rubbed his forehead and rolled his eyes.  
>"Hey, Namine? That's familiar... Anyway, do you have any lemonade or something?"<br>"Xaldin can make almost anything you like, do you want that with strawberry or something?"  
>"Uhh, sure! Yeah, that sounds great!" Sora grinned and the young girl smiled.<br>"I'll get you some, then, and get it while you swim. Master Riku, you want anything?"  
>"Uh, ice tea, please. And some water too."<br>"As usual, yes sir." Namine grinned and nodded. "May I be off, now?"  
>"Yes, you may go." Riku rolled his eyes at her formal language, but smiled as she bowed and ran off, disappearing into the house.<br>"You have a pool? That's awesome!" Sora gushed, grinning hugely as he followed Riku up the stairs toward the bathroom.  
>Shortly after both men made it to the ceramic room, Namine walked up and handed Riku a pair of aqua swim trunks. And them she handed Sora a small pile of fabric. "Here, try these on. You can find something to wear in here, probably." She smiled, and skipped off down the hallway until she turned a corner.<br>Sora blushed, and took the pile into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.  
>Riku looked uncomfortable and rubbed the back of his head. Self consciously, he quickly changed into the shorts he had been handed. They were his favorite trunks, and he'd had them for about a year by now.<br>He kicked the small pile of clothes on the floor, feeling awkward.  
>When the door finally opened, Riku almost choked again, staring at his friend who now stood before him in a much too large piece of clothing. The shorts were yellow, and the pattern was quite interesting, covered in ducks. Off topic, part of Riku's brain wondered where those had come from.<br>But the real problem, was the large waistband, that was at least five inches too big, and kept sliding off his hips. After a few seconds, Sora gave up and just held them up. They didn't have a toggle, so they couldn't be tightened.  
>The sight of the younger boys well tanned hips exposed like that nearly set Riku off, he felt himself fill with desire as the younger male's bare chest was exposed to him. But his bit his lip and giggled slightly. "Haha, I don't think those work just right, sweetie."<br>"I know..." Sora looked down, blushing bright red and turned around. Riku caught a small glimpse of the others' behind just as the door closed, and he sat down on the floor to repeat that image in his head.  
>He felt slightly guilty for doing so, but he figured that he should probably try his best to promote his sexual feelings for what their families needed of them.<br>A full forty seconds later, Sora reemerged with a pair of green shorts, with a faint fish pattern on them. these ones fit much better.  
>"Much, much better, Sora." Riku covered his mouth and snickered, making the younger blush and angrily huff.<br>"What, it's not like I'm THAT skinny... I just have a high metabolism..." The bright red blush across the younger boy's cheeks drew Riku's eyes to his face, watching as Sora fidgeted, uncomfortably. He looked so... beautiful... and almost delicate... just watching drew Riku in... Suddenly, "What?"  
>"What?" Riku blinked. He looked at Sora, and realized that he'd been staring. His eyes widened and he shook his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, you looked... it's just..." Desperately, the silverette ran a hand through his hair and tried to distract the brunet. "Uh, those look like they fit much better... You going to go with those?"<br>"Uhh, maybe... I miss my keyblades, though."  
>"Dude, you keyblades?" Riku thought back to the first time the two had met, playing around in a large pool with a giant waterslide that Sora had been terrified of, while Riku had enjoyed the ride immensely. The younger boy had been wearing a pair of too-big water shorts, tied up to make them tighter, and had been covered in awesome looking key-swords, weapons of some kind. He'd called them keyblades, and had been obsessed with them. Riku had found them fascinating, but he'd never admit it after all the time he spent teasing Sora over the ones on his shorts. Vaguely, he was amazed that he could recall that tiny detail after so many years. "Do those still even fit?"<br>"Dude, I stole those from my oldest sisters boyfriend, and then he bought me another pair later. I totally love them. Oh, wait... boyfriend them, husband now. Right, keep forgetting..."  
>"That's okay." Riku laughed, pulling the small, yet well-tanned and muscled arm with him toward the back door. "Let's go swimming!"<br>"What about the shorts I left in the bathroom?" Sora wondered.  
>"Namine or one of her girls will get them, and if they don't I'll pick them up later tonight if I'm not busy." Riku felt the other hesitate, and turned to look at his face. The younger looked a little sheepish almost... or maybe even a little afraid.<br>Oh. OH... "Oh no, I totally didn't mean it like that!" Riku let go of Sora's arm, even though he felt a little reluctant to do so. "I totally didn't mean it like that!" the elder bit his lip. Stupid, stupid...  
>"Oh no... It's okay..." Sora blushed the color of a beet, but he looked down and silently followed toward the pool.<p>

It was fun, lots of catching up, talk, laughter, all sorts of interesting conversations.  
>Namine and a girl with red hair who introduced herself as Kairi came in and set some strawberry lemonade and a glass of iced tea on a little table, and left a pitcher of each and some water as well.<br>The two had a good time, they played hard, and were exhausted by dinner time. 


	4. Chapter 4

Dinner was a rather awkward event. Namine kept glancing back and forth between Riku and Sora like there was something she wanted to know. There almost certainly was. Any girls she had had over had already left, and that left her with almost no one to talk to. Sora didn't seem to want to answer all of her intrusive questions.  
>Xaldin was not in a talkative mood. He never was.<br>That left Riku with all the pressure on his shoulders as the host to start up a conversation, or keep Sora from feeling too awkward. He didn't want to.  
>"Hey, Riku?" Came the boys quiet voice from right next to him.<br>The taller started, and looked up at him, tearing his eyes away from the chicken on his plate. "Yeah?"  
>"Have you ever had a girlfriend since we last saw each other?"<br>Well, what a great way to make Riku feel more awkward, though he didn't know that was possible at the moment. "I uh... Well, kinda... Not really..."  
>"What do you mean, 'not really?'"<br>"I mean I dated a couple girls, but never more than a few days, and none of them were really very interesting to me." The faint blush on his cheeks was very uncomfortable. Riku never blushed.  
>"Did you ever kiss any of them?"<br>"No."  
>"Anything else?"<br>"No."  
>"Oh..." The brunet looked at his lap, folding his hands and thinking a moment. "Namine? Have you ever dated anyone?"<br>"Oh, yes! I have a boyfriend right now! He comes from Japan now and then to visit me!"  
>"Really?"<br>"Really." Namine blushed, swooning over the memory of her musical boy, the blonde who had stolen her heart through song. "He's wonderful."  
>"What's he like?" Sora seemed to become engrossed in the conversation, but Riku was still distracted, picking at his dinner half-halfheartedly.<br>"Tall, sweet, he's got a great singing voice, he wears his dirty blonde hair all spiky in a mullet-like do and he's always humming or singing. He plays the guitar for me when I can get on video chat with him." She giggled.  
>"Cool! How did you meet him?"<br>"Through my brother, actually. He is my brother's boyfriend's best friend since like, kindergarten or something. All three of them are wonderful really."  
>"You have a brother? What's he like?"<br>"He not much older than me, and only a little taller."  
>"What's his name?"<br>"Roxas."  
>"Seriously? That's awesome!"<br>Riku blinked, looking over at Sora, who seemed even more excited somehow. "What's awesome?" He asked.  
>"Roxas is my roommate's name, in college! I've got a vacation for this week, but as soon as I go back I'll let him know I finally met his sister!" He laughed. "So you're the little blonde away at art school I've heard so much about!"<br>"Seriously?" Riku gaped, as the blonde and brunet began to laugh together. "What a coincidence..." Feeling left out, Riku went back to poking.  
>"Yeah, and I love Axel! He's amazingly hilarious, and always smirking that awful smirk. Makes me think he's gonna jump Roxas, or even me at times!" Sora laughed.<br>"I know, right! But he always behaves himself around others! He never once touched anyone inappropriately while I was around!" Namine giggled.  
>"I never noticed that, but he really doesn't. I just sometimes can't spend a night in my room, so I have to go find Demyx or someone else to host me for a night. Usually I can have my bedroom, though. Axel has his apartment of campus."<br>"It's really fun, you ever been there?"  
>"Tons of games!"<br>And the two went on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on until Riku almost fell asleep in his mashed potatoes.  
>The only thing that woke him up was a small, cool hand slipped into his own.<br>"Riku?"  
>"Hmm?" The elder sat up, looking down in concern at the tone of fear in the others voice. "What's wrong?"<br>"It's... it's bedtime..."  
>Oh.<p>The two of them sat there, on opposite sides of the bed.<br>"You know, Sora... we don't have to do this. It's not that important, and it's not like our families can force us..."  
>"I know, it's just..." A sigh. "I don't know. They're counting on us, and I've never ;et my parents down before..."<br>"Really?"  
>"Really."<br>Silence.  
>"Hard to believe."<br>"Still true..."  
>Riku though, taking another deep breath. "If you don't want to do this, we can stop right here. Okay? You don't have to let your parents dictate your life for you." Desperately, Riku tried to process the situation in his head, but in his nervous panic he began to babble. It sounded like legitimate reasoning, but in truth it was just his unconscious excuse to not have to think about what might happen.<br>Riku had never really though about anything like this. He had never really though about marriage, dating or anything. Sure, he'd dated girls in high school, even once in college, but he'd never been very serious about it. And he didn't want to start now, just because he was told. He wasn't ready.  
>"I know..." Sora shifted uncomfortably.<br>The room was silent for almost twenty minutes as both of them contemplated how they'd ended up here.  
>"I think..." Sora finally broke the piercing quiet. "I think I'll just go to bed, and if I change my mind later I'll knock." He decided.<br>Riku sighed, content with this idea. "Sounds good." He said. He didn't turn around until the door had fully closed behind the other man.

It was quiet, the entire house had no noise whatsoever. It was eerie, the quiet. The pool outside could be barely heard, just a vague sloshing. There was a heater, that provided a very slight hum, only if you listened very hard (as Sora was) and the faint sound of pots and pans being washed.  
>Eventually, the washing sounds went away, and the heater turned off, so it was just the silent sound of the pool.<br>Sora didn't like it at all.  
>But he contemplated what it would mean if he snuck into Riku's room at this hour, hoping for the sound of his light snores.<br>Eventually, it drove him out of bed, and down the hall.  
>When he reached the door behind which Riku slept, he paused, staring at the knob. On the other side, he could hear faint breathing, and the sound of a shift as the other probably rolled over in his sleep.<br>He thought again about going in.

Riku hadn't got a single second of sleep. He was too preoccupied with the thought of the other in another room. He though of the situation, and decided that if Sora came in, he would be willing to try. It still scared him, but he would try.  
>The sound of footsteps stopped his heart.<br>They padded lightly down the hall, and stopped in front of his bedroom door. To avoid detection as awake, to take some pressure off the other, he feigned the sounds of sleep, quietly snoring and shuffling the blankets. He turned toward the door to be able to watch it if it opened.  
>He listened hard for the sound of retreat, or advance, wondering if he would actually do it.<br>When the door finally creaked open, Riku sat up slowly, watching the others face carefully.  
>"Hi," Sora said sheepishly.<br>"Hi." Riku watched as the brunet closed the door, and stood there in front of him.  
>"So..." Sora scratched one foot with the other. "I uh... I didn't like the big quiet house... I wanted some noise. I figured you breathe, at night, and that makes noise. So, I wanted to come in here and uh... see if that worked."<br>Riku could almost hear the cogs whirling in the others mind, trying desperately to come up with an excuse. He didn't say a word.  
>"I uh... I mean... Oh, why can't I say it?" The younger bit his lip and groaned in frustration.<br>"Say what?"  
>"I uh... well..." he swallowed. "I'm going to say it now, because I'll regret it later if I don't. I uh... for years... I've had dreams and... I guess you could call them fantasies... about you..."<br>This surprised Riku, and threw his eyes open. "What?"  
>"I uh... Y-you never asked me if I'd had any girlfriends, but I'd been afraid that it would be awkward if you had. See I've never had a girlfriend. But I did have a boyfriend."<br>Riku said nothing.  
>"He was amazing, and funny, and cool, and awesome... but every time he hugged or held me... I thought of you. So eventually I told him that I couldn't really commit if I thought of someone else. He understood, but... I never really had a way to talk to you... tell you about it..."<br>Watching the younger man's face, Riku saw only honesty. He felt only confusion and conviction, and knew only admiration. When Sora was done he felt lighter, as if something had been lifted from both their chests.  
>"Well this is awkward," The blue-eyed boy said.<br>Without saying a word, Riku shook his head and held out his arms.  
>Shocked, but curious, Sora stepped forward, climbing onto the covers and crawling toward Riku. He looked a little anxious, very nervous and more than a little disbelieving. Riku was pleased to watch it all melt away when he pulled Sora to him for a kiss. <p>


End file.
